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Apple’s recent decision to allow game emulators on the App Store took a swift turn as one of the earliest popular Game Boy emulators, iGBA, was pulled due to copyright and spam violations. iGBA, touted as one of the first Apple-approved Game Boy emulators, was flagged for being a knockoff of another emulator, according to Apple. Riley Testut, the developer behind the well-known Game Boy emulator GBA4IOS, revealed that iGBA appeared to be a clone of his decade-old emulator.
“Apparently Apple approved a knock-off of GBA4iOS — the predecessor to Delta I made in high school — in the App Store,” Testut shared on Threads Saturday. “I did not give anyone permission to do this, yet it’s now sitting at the top of the charts (despite being filled with ads + tracking).” Testut expressed gratitude for Apple’s App Review process in addressing such instances. Reports indicate that iGBA violated sections 4.3 and 5.2 of Apple’s App Review Guidelines, which pertain to spam and intellectual property violations. Although it remains unclear if iGBA was specifically pulled for copying Testut’s open-source emulator, the developer of iGBA later issued an apology to Testut.
Apple’s move to allow retro game emulator apps on April 5 was part of an update to comply with the European Commission’s anti-steering guidelines. While retro game emulators are now permitted worldwide, Apple emphasized the importance of originality, not allowing apps that are copies of existing emulators. Despite its initial popularity, iGBA faced removal from the App Store while Emu64XL, a Commodore 64 emulator, remains available for download. Though some game emulators have previously made their way onto the App Store, this marks the first time Apple explicitly approved them. However, fans hoping to enjoy Game Boy games on their iPhones may need to wait a bit longer as Apple navigates the landscape of emulator apps on its platform.